NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, February 23, 2018

Women making clothes for global fashion brands in South Asia are often yelled at by their supervisors and have to take out loans to make ends meet, hundreds of garment workers’ diaries showed.

A year-long study of more than 500 workers in Cambodia, India and Bangladesh found women often work overtime or borrow money from their husbands to feed their families and pay rent.

“I wouldn’t have enough money if we ate a lot,” read one entry by Chenda in Cambodia, where researchers found most workers were in their 20s and married, with some primary education and earned about $45 for a 48-hour week.

Fashion industry manufacturers have come under pressure to improve conditions and workers’ rights, particularly after the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh.

Photo courtesy of Conor Ashleigh.